Saskia Novelli
by CoolWriter11
Summary: Saskia is a smart and slightly bossy girl from a longtime wizarding family. Her letter from Hogwarts arrives and she starts the second chapter of her life - she becomes Hogwarts Saskia. She navigates her life including finding friends, proving herself to her house, and relationships - James Potter, Harry's son, has a crush on her! Good story, hope you like it.


The second chapter of my life started on a blue morning. It was a normal day except for one thing that I couldn't forget - my letter was going to arrive that afternoon. My letter of admission to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'd been waiting and thinking about it for months, years even. I mean, it's not every day that you know for certain that you're going to wizarding school; 'course, I was pretty sure but you can't ever be positive until you get your letter. I remember when my sister Elle got hers, and my parents have told me countless stories about their own arriving, and even more about their time at Hogwarts. Elle takes her first letter to Hogwarts with her each year, but in the summer I find myself looking at the green ink and the supplies list, and the signature of Professor M. McGonagall signed in cursive at the very bottom of the folded parchment. I make up stories in my head almost every night about what Hogwarts will be like when I go - what house I'll be in (Elle's in Ravenclaw), how I'll do at my classes (Elle does well), what friends I'll make (Elle's got about a million)… I'm not worried, just apprehensive is all.

I know I'll make friends. I've got plenty in London. Emma Jameson is my closest, but I've also got old March Greening. Stupid name, stupid girl, but she's sweet enough. And pretty enough for the boys in St. Xavier's neighboring boys school. I swear, every time she walks past the fence, the boys stop and goggle. Emma and I are pretty too though. Her pixie cut brown hair is sort of a "man magnet" as March calls it. My long blond brown hair is good too.

Anyway, that day was as perfect as it could ever be. I woke up to sausage and eggs cooking downstairs, and after an enormous breakfast, I picked up Emma and we walked to the neighborhood pool. The day was bright and warm, and I spent an enjoyable few hours playing in the cool water. Well almost all of it was nice, except then Emma started questioning me about coming to my house. "Saskia, we've been besties for four years," she began. "I don't get why I can't come to your house." I groaned. Every once in a while she would strike up the same conversation, and every time I felt guilty about lying. Of course it wasn't my fault, but I can't explain the real reason to her; I would be hunted down by the Ministry of Magic and my family would have to pay about a million fines. My family is wizards, so the outside of our house looked normal, but the inside would be bizarre to a muggle. We've got dishes washing themselves, all sorts of wizard books on the shelves titled things like " _The Witch's Guide to Repairing Broomsticks_ " and " _The History of Garden Dragons"_ and such. When you turn into my room upstairs, you'll see Quidditch posters adorning the walls and you might find our pygmy puff, Ralph, hiding somewhere. I mean, sorry to lie but I don't really have a choice! "Emma, I just don't want you to. Nothing personal."

" _Matthew Berthoud_ came to your house and I can't?! I just don't get it." Matthew Berthoud, the least cool boy in the entire St. Xavier's is a wizard. His family is friends with mine. I would rather have anyone else over a million times than him over once: he's boring and geeky and all he does is read. "Emma, I'm sorry. I wish I could have you over but I just can't." She frowns, and although she is grumpy I decide that this is a fine time to tell her something that I've been meaning to for a while. "Emma, there's something else I have to say. I'm going to a boarding school next year. I'm not going to St. Xavier's anymore." She looks at me, her face falling.

"Really?" she says in a small voice. I nod, feeling the tiniest bit guilty. She starts crying and I try not to sigh. I'm bad at these sorts of things; I don't think I have a drop of empathy in me.

"Sorry," I say lamely.

"Sorry?" she demands.

I shrug. "I don't want to. My parents are making me. It's… a family tradition." Practically none of that is true, but I'm not really ashamed. She hoists herself out of the pool and walks away. I suppose our pool day is over, but I'm not worried. She'll "forgive" me later, as she always does. I walk back home to take a shower and read a book for a while. "Has the post come yet?" I asked Elle. "Saskia, you know it's not coming until this afternoon!" she laughs. I sigh. Elle is right as always. I waste away the hours, reading Harry Potter, a book about the boy that conquered Voldemort. Originally it was for wizards, but there was an eccentric adaption for muggles as well. And they consider it fiction! It amuses me once more every time I think about it. And get this - Harry Potter's son James is starting this year, just like me! I can't pretend I'm not a little excited. What if something cool happened like it did for Harry? But he's probably a bit of a jerk with fame in his head. Course who knows till you meet him.

I read for hours, not really paying attention to the story. When will my letter come? It's three o'clock. It should be here any minute! I eat a few slices of turkey, munching in apprehension. Four o'clock. The muggle post arrives. I start to fear that perhaps I'm not a witch after all. No Hogwarts, no wand, no wizard books, no anything fun. But that's stupid! Of course I'm a witch! My entire family is, and I've shown a few magical symptoms - making my hair pink and sparkly when I was three, levitating a few inches off the ground when I couldn't reach my hidden birthday present… So duh I'm a witch! And I'm not disappointed. As I wipe down my turkey plate, I hear a tapping at the door. I lunge to the entry hall and fling the door open. And yes! Hovering in front of me is a barn owl, a letter secure in its talons. I almost rip it out of its grasp, and I give it the turkey in my hand. He flies off as I look down at the letter in my hand.

Ms. S. Novelli

Bedroom in the basement

1119 Beeswell Parkway

Littlehampton

Sussex

Yes! It is my Hogwarts letter! I jump up and down and squeal. "Elle! Mum! DAD! I got my letter!" I let out a huge sigh that I didn't know I had been holding in. I hear Elle come down the stairs. "Well duh you did! But congrats. Open it up!" I feel the yellow white parchment and the smooth crimson wax beneath my fingertips, and I slowly push the wax off. I fold take out the folded pieces of parchment - a letter signed by M. McGonagall, a list of my books. Mum comes down the stairs with a camera and she snaps pictures and hugs me. "Get off, Mum!" I yelp, but I can't pretend I'm mad.

Two weeks pass, and not much happens. I continue the summer like any other, until one day Mum says that we should get my school supplies at Diagon Alley. I jump up, spilling my breakfast cereal. I had been waiting for this for a long time. To get my books, my robes, my cauldron, my alchemy kit, a pet, and, most of all, my wand. We floo powder ourselves to Diagon Alley where I take a look at my list - our first stop is Madam Malkin's, but immediately next to it is the quiditch shop - I look through the glass case and see a long sleek broom that looks faster than anything. I stare at it longingly - my broom at home is old, and since I live in a muggle town I hardly ever use it, but I love flying. Mum steers me away from the window into the Madam Malkin's clothes shop. I get five long black robes and a black pointed hat. I buy potion ingredients, a pewter cauldron, and then we're off to Ollivander's Fine Wands. It's now owned by Alabaster, Ollivander's old apprentice, because since Ollivander got out of St. Mungo's, he has lived in a beach house alone.

Mum, Elle, and I enter the cool dim shop. No one is at the counter. "Mr. Alabaster!" calls out Elle. There are some stumbling tripping noises before a middle aged man emerges from the many many shelves aligning the walls. "Elle Novelli, is that you?" he exclaims. Elle laughs.

"Yes, and how are you today Mr. Alabaster?"  
"Doing well, doing well. And I presume you are as well? Here for school shopping, I suppose. And who's this?" He finally notices me.

"This is my sister Saskia. She's starting Hogwarts this year and she's in need of a wand. Sas, this is Mr. Alabaster, the wand maker and my friend Samuel's father." I nod at him, smiling.

"In need of a wand, you say? I think we can arrange something." He jogs down a row of shelves, and disappears. A few moments later he comes back with an armload of wands. "Right," he says, dumping them in a pile on the table. "Try this one." He picks up a long dark wand.

"What should I do with it?" I ask.

"Wave it around a bit and we'll see what happens. I pick it up and wave it in circles above my head. I hear Elle stifling a giggle behind me, and my face turns red. I quickly put the wand back on the table.

"No, no, you're right. That one won't work, certainly not. Let me see… I think you'll need something with a tad more power. Something medium length, I think…" his eyes scan me. I feel like they can see all the way inside of me. I shiver. "Right then! I'll be right back." Again he disappears and reappears with an armload of wands, which he again dumps onto the table. "Here we are! Try this." He thrusts a light colored wand at me and I take it. I wave it. Nothing happens. I wave another. And another, and many many more. Nothing happens. I try not to get discouraged. The pile of wands grows higher and higher. Dang. I want to get out of here. "Try this one," says Alabaster. He hands me an oak wand with a dragon heartstrings core, about 10 inches long. I pick it up and wave it without much hope - but I'm surprised. As it waves around my head, a shower of sparks rain down on me. The air around me is gold. I grin - this is the right wand. Mum applauds and I flush with pleasure and pride. "Sweet wand Sas," Elle says with a tiny hint of jealousy in her voice. My wand is really way cooler than her Phoenix feather ash one. I grin and we leave the shop to find me a pet for Hogwarts. "Cat or owl?" Asks Elle.

"I was thinking of a toad," I say sarcastically.

"There is no way I'd let my sister show up with a toad." I smile. An owl is flashier than a cat, plus they deliver your mail, but I like fluffy cats. I end up getting a tiny adorable fluffy gray kitten. I name him Nigel, and he purrs in my arms all the way home.

I spend my days until school studying my books - I am determined to do well at Hogwarts - and playing with Nigel who grows fatter and more playful. I am most fascinated by potions - the power that just a few ingredients put together can have is stunning - and Elle says that the potions teacher at Hogwarts is great. As the days number fewer and fewer until September first, I get more and more jittery. I make a wall calendar to help me count off the days. Ten. Nine. Seven. Four. Two. One.

Tomorrow I'm off to Hogwarts! Mum helps me pack up my stuff in a big wood and leather trunk with my initials (S.E.N.) on it in gold lettering. I'm so excited that I almost forget I'm leaving Mum and Dad behind for the year, but I'm reminded when Dad hands me a stack of letters with the address and return address already stamped. I think I might miss them once I'm there. I hadn't thought about it much before… but nothing can dampen my spirits now! Tomorrow I'll meet my friends for life! I'll be sorted! I'll start learning spells, meet some brilliant wizards, begin my entire life! Tomorrow will surely be by far the most important day in my life. "Hey Sas? Honey, where are you?" I call down from my room "Up here Mum!" She walks up the stairs and comes into my room.

"I think I forgot to tell you that we're going to the station with the Berthouds tomorrow, and I've told his mother that you'll sit with Matthew on the train." I widen my eyes.

"I'm supposed to spend the train ride with _Matthew Berthoud_?! Mum, I _cannot_ do that! My entire seven years at Hogwarts will be ruined!"

"Saskia Novelli, that isn't kind."

"Well it's true!"

Mum sighs. "I don't care how true it is. Matthew is a nice boy and he's very excited about sitting with you tomorrow."

I honestly can't believe it! If anyone sees me with Matthew, my new life will be over as soon as it starts. "Mum, I can't sit with him."

"Yes you can, and you're going to." Fat chance. He can sit by himself for all I care.

But I just say, "Sure, Mum."

"Good." She leaves.

It takes me hours to fall asleep that night. I stay awake staring at the ceiling, worrying for the first time that I won't fit in. That I won't be as good as Elle… Elle, who has an A in every subject, who's pretty, who's popular, who's kind. Elle, whose shadow I worry that I'll always be in. I finally manage to drift off.

The next morning I've forgotten about any worries I'd had. I'm caught up in all my excitement - the train leaves at precisely 11:00. I get dressed in my normal clothes and spend a half an hour on my hair. Believe me, this is the first time I've ever done that. The finished product is together while still messy, laying on my back. Yikes, have I become a tween? I head downstairs to a very emotional breakfast - Mum's eyes are red from crying over me, and I can see that Dad's a bit quiet himself. Elle and I are cheerful though. Her long long hair is just as good as mine, and Mum insists that we look so much alike and that we simply must take a picture together. But then the perfect morning stops when Mum reminds us that the Berthouds are coming over. I groan, and even Elle suppresses an eye roll. She feels bad for me, I know, but both of us know better than to argue with Mum. At exactly 9:15 pull up the drive in their green prius. I smile at Matthew and his older brother. I had forgotten that Elle had to sit with Rufus! I would have giggled if the situation weren't so dire for us. An hour later we are at Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross Station. Although I've been here six times before, the brick walls and steam from the trains seem so new. My heart is beating so quickly… we approach the barrier that one must charge through to get to the platform. Elle takes her golden ticket from Mum and confidently charges through the brick barrier. She is gone. Rufus does the same. And then I know it's my turn. I take my heavy ticket from Mum and grab hold of my trolley with Nigel sitting in his kitty carrier strapped on the top. I take a deep breath and start running at the barrier. 3… 2… 1… My new life starts now.

The platform is wonderful in every way. Families and families are talking and hugging and several mums are crying openly. On the train tracks I see the magnificent scarlet train that will take me to Hogwarts. It sits on the tracks patiently. I feel myself quivering and my white knuckles are still clenched onto the trolley handles. I see Elle with a group of 4th years laughing and talking, but she catches my eye and leaves the group for me. "Hey," she says.

"Hi," I say quietly.

"Nervous?" She asks slipping her hand into mine.

"Yes. A little."

"Don't be. I was too, and now look at me!" She laughs at her vanity. She makes me feel a little better.  
"I'm really excited. I'm just… just excited." I finger my beautiful wand in my hands.

"I know, Sas. Believe me, I get it." She squeezes my shoulder.

"Elle? What house will I get in?" This has been worrying me a lot lately. I don't want to be in Slytherin at all. Hufflepuff… eh. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are both great. But I'm worried. Thing is, if I'm in Ravenclaw, people will compare me even more with Elle. The whole house thing… it confuses me.

"Sas, it doesn't matter. Mum and Dad and I love you anyway. Doesn't matter a bit. You'll be happy in whichever one you get put in." And I think I believe her. I smile.  
"Okay. I'll leave so you can hang out with your _boyfriend_ ," I say, referring to a boy named Jack who she'd been talking to.

"Oh shut up, you!" she laughs. I run away from her laughing as she tries to tickle me. I think everything will be alright. Mum and Dad appear outside the barrier and they walk over to me. "Five minutes until you should be on the train," they say. I smile and give them a hug.

"I'll miss you guys."

"We will too honey!" Mom starts crying. I knew this was coming. I pat her shoulder awkwardly. "Right. I'm going to start loading my trunk and Nigel," I say to get away from the crying. I leave my parents and hop into the train. Compartments with glass sliding doors line the wide walkways, and several kids are clustered in little groups. I take a seat in a compartment near the front of the train and I stow my trunk and Nigel's crate in an upper Compartment. Nigel leaps onto the seat. I see Matthew get into the train and I lean back in my seat hoping he won't see me, and he walks right past my compartment. I walk back out of the train to give last goodbyes to Mum and Dad, and I climb back on eagerly. Elle pokes her head in to check on me. "Ditched Matthew, did you?" She asks.

"Maybe so." She grins and leaves. I settle back in my seat, prepared for all the excitement today will surely bring. As the train fills up, I nod, and the compartment door slides open. Three boys enter. "Hey," the middle one says. "Who're you?"

"Who're you?" I retort.

"James Potter," he says smugly. So this is who he is! He has dark hair and a jaunty attitude. His nose is pointed. I think he's waiting for a reaction, but I'm sure not giving one. "And?" I demand. "Who're these blokes?" He looks put off.

"Well these are Kurt and Wolfie," James says, gesturing to the boys beside him.

"Nice to meet you then. I'm Saskia. Now if you're planning on meeting everyone on the train, you'd best be off."

"Naw, were just here cuz James thought you were pretty," Wolfie says grinning. I raise my eyebrows and James punched him. "Well it's true!" James protests. I smile. "Well James, you're quite pretty yourself. Now you'd best be off." Kurt and Wolfie chortle and James turns red. "Saskia, the thing is that James would be very very sad if you made him leave. Can't we stay?" says Kurt, laughingly. The train starts moving. I wave out the window at Mum and Dad. Mum is still crying. The train pulls out of the station and were on our way. No one is sitting with me and it'll be a lonely ride without anybody sitting with me. "Fine," I say grudgingly. "But you have to buy me some trolley candy."

"Sure!" James says, and then turns red again.

"Good."  
Just then a girl walks in.


End file.
